Peter's labor law practice stems from his
long commitment and involvement with the labor movement. Prior to
attending law school, he was an organizer and business agent for the
then Textile Workers Union of America (which later merged into the
Amalgamated Clothing Textile Workers Union, which is now merged into
UNITE-HERE). After law school, he served as the general counsel
for AFSCME Council 82, the union that then represented New York State
Correction Officers and a variety of Deputy Sheriffs’ Benevolent
Associations and Police Benevolent Associations throughout New York
State.

Representing
Unions

Since opening his own law office in 1984, Peter has
worked as an outside counsel for the Public Employees Federation, New
York State United Teachers, New York Metro Postal Workers Union,
Bricklayers Local 2, Local 355 of
the United Service Workers, Local 175 of the United Plant and
Production Workers, the United
Union Employees of New York (a staff union of CSEA employees), the Iron
Workers, the Amalgamated
Transit Union, several county Deputy Sheriffs Benevolent
Associations, the New York State Correction Officers and Police
Benevolent Association, as well as his former employer, Council 82.

Peter’s labor law practice is noteworthy for his
efforts to devise out of the box creative solutions to problems facing
both individual employees and labor unions. He presented a program on
creative organizing strategies at the Bricklayers International Union
Conference in 2008. For labor unions, he
has been especially active in devising environmental litigation and in
fostering alliances and working relationships with environmental
groups.

Peter assisted the New York Metro Postal Workers
Union in a lawsuit challenging the Postal Service’s continuing refusal
to perform a full cleanup of the main Morgan mail processing facility
in Manhattan, after the facility was contaminated by letters containing
anthrax in the Fall of
2001. The actions of the Postal Service were challenged in a
citizen suit under the Resource Conservation Recovery Act.

In 2003, Peter filed a Notice of Intent to Sue under the Clean Water
Act on behalf of Bricklayers Local 2 against the developer of a
Wal-Mart store. This notice prompted the
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to impose a
$70,000 penalty on the developer.

Peter has also brought a lawsuit on behalf of the
Public Employees Federation, a labor union representing 50,000
professional New York State employees, challenging the relocation of
the headquarters of the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation, on the grounds that the City of Albany failed to perform
a full review of the prospective environmental impacts of
the relocation.

Peter has also utilized other federal statutes to provide creative
solutions for
labor unions. For example, in 2000, he filed a Qui Tam Lawsuit
under the
Federal False Claims Act, challenging the use of federal funds by a
federally funded "Private Industry Council" to fight union organizing,
and obtained a substantial settlement.

Representing
Individual Employees

In addition to handling miscellaneous matters for
labor unions, Peter has handled many cases involving the rights of
individual workers. He has brought constitutional claims under 42
U.S.C. § 1983 and cases under Title VII of the
1964 Civil Rights Act, the Employees Retirement Income Security Act,
the Fair Labor Standards Act, and miscellaneous other laws, to
vindicate
employee claims.

Peter represented Lieutenant Grace Pruitt, the highest
ranking female police officer in the City of Utica, in a discrimination
suit. Lieut. Pruitt commanded the Criminal Investigation Division
for three years and was first on the civil service list for
Captain. Nevertheless, the City of Utica appointed a less senior
male as Captain of the Division, and asked Lieut. Pruitt to train him
to be her supervisor. The case was aggressively litigated, and
the litigation efforts were supported by a public relations campaign,
including mass leafletting. The case was settled in early
2011. Lieut. Pruitt later received the Kharas Award for
Distinguished Service in Civil Liberties from the Central New York
Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

In August 2007, Peter won a $180,000 settlement on the eve of trial, on
behalf of the former Rensselaer County Director of Real Property
Services, who had been terminated after criticizing the former
Rensselaer County Executive. The lawsuit, which was originally
filed in 2003, survived two motions for Summary Judgment; one before
and one after the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Garcetti v. Ceballos
sharply limited claims of First Amendment retaliation.

In 1985, Peter won a nine-day trial in New
York State Supreme Court, when the jury found that Peter's client had
been fired in bad faith by the New York State Department of Education
for reporting alleged criminal wrongdoing to the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.

From 1996 through 1998, Peter represented a Ph.D.
engineer employed by
the
Watervliet Arsenal before the Merit Systems Protection Board and the
Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, in an effort to demonstrate that his
layoff was in retaliation for his successful efforts to convince the Army to cancel a
wasteful weapons project.

Peter has brought a number of actions under Title VII of the 1964 Civil
Rights Act. He was able to win settlements in sexual harassment suits
against the New York State Department of Labor and the United States
Postal Service. In addition, Peter has represented many
employees in disciplinary arbitration proceedings, including the
successful defense of a state employee who, according to the local news
media, had been videotaped having sexual relations on a desktop while
working. In 1981, as the General Counsel for a union representing state
correction officers, he was the first lawyer to successfully defend an
employee accused of sexual harassment, in a case where the victim was a
close friend and confidant of Donna Payant: the first female correction
officer killed in the line of duty.

Peter has also defended individual employees who
have been
sued for discrimination, including the Director of Apprenticeship
Training for
the New York State Department of Labor. Peter successfully
defended an
affirmative
action officer for the New York State Department of Taxation and
Finance, and
has extensive experience defending Correction Officers in inmate
assault cases.

Although labor lawyers are traditionally known for
their litigation efforts, Peter has also attempted to devise creative
and practical solutions for individual employees, including public
employees who are protected by civil service laws. Recognizing
that much employment litigation is protracted, expensive, and
frequently counterproductive for employees who must continue to work in
a hostile environment during the litigation, he attempts to address
problems without recourse to litigation whenever possible.

In 1991, Peter was retained by five police
officers in the Village of Herkimer, who were being victimized by a
corrupt Police Benevolent Association that was dominating the
community. Police union dues were set at $25 per week, overtime
and favored assignments were given to cronies of the PBA president, and
dissidents, including Peter's clients, faced threats of physical
injury. Despite his clients' limited financial resources, Peter was
able to organize a campaign comprised of inexpensive administrative
proceedings, Freedom of Information Law requests, involvement of local
state and federal agencies, and adverse publicity. As a result of this
campaign, the narcotics officer for the Village was convicted of
federal charges, the PBA President was indicted for theft of union
funds, and the 37 year old police chief resigned immediately after the
indictment "for reasons of health". The incumbent mayor was
denied renomination by the local Republican
Party, and subsequently came in third in a three-way race for
reelection. Subsequently, three of Peter's clients, who had faced
legal, political and
physical persecution, became the President of the PBA, Police Chief,
and Police Captain.